With brand new world-class competition on offer and birthday celebrations fit for a Queen, Royal Windsor Horse Show 2016 promises to be better than ever as exciting changes are announced for this year’s event which takes place from 11-15 May.
One of the new innovations for 2016 will be the Land Rover International Driving Grand Prix upgrading to a CAIO4* World Cup Qualifier, a Nations Team competition for Carriage Driving. Nations can enter a team of up to three people with two of the team-mates’ best overall scores counted over the course of the three phases of Dressage, Marathon and Cones. The 4* status now means that drivers who gain World Cup points, can earn five bonus points towards the hotly contested FEI World Cup™ Driving Qualification for the 2016-2017 indoor World Cup season.
National Dressage will also be drawing in the best of British as the UK’s top riders will be invited to take part in a must-see class on Wednesday 11th May. This will be one of the last opportunities to watch the potential members of Team GBR compete their podium-worthy dressage routines on home soil ahead of the highly anticipated Rio Olympics in August.
As well as top Carriage Driving and Dressage riders gravitating to the show, the newly enhanced 4* International Jumping status will furthermore entice leading competitors from around the globe as Royal Windsor Horse Show hosts six 4* classes including the CSI4* Rolex Grand Prix for the Kingdom of Bahrain Trophy.
At the other end of the scale, Windsor will also be introducing CSIAm-A classes to this year’s event, open to national and international riders, where five classes will be held over the course of the Show.
Another welcomed change to the Horse Show this year is that due to the level of prestige in the competitions the total prize money for the Show has now reached £293,395.
In addition to the new and revamped classes, this year will see the celebrations for The Queen’s 90th Birthday taking place on the last four evenings of Royal Windsor Horse Show. For those who missed out on tickets for the special celebratory event, many of the world’s best equestrian acts who will be performing for The Queen will also be displaying at Royal Windsor Horse Show during the day, these are likely to include The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, The Oman Royal Cavalry, Chilean Huasos, The New Zealand Army Band and The South Australian Police Band.
This special action-packed show will also see the return of some of the old favourites that are guaranteed to get the crowds cheering including The Shetland Pony Grand National, The DAKS Pony Club Mounted Games, Tent Pegging, the Coaching Marathon, over 100 Showing classes which attract top quality combinations of riders and horses from all over the country, as well as the CE12* International Endurance competition, held in The Great Park on Friday 13th May.
Tickets to Royal Windsor Horse Show can be purchased at www.rwhs.co.uk or telephone the box office on 0844 581 4960 from the UK and +44 (0) 121 796 6290 internationally.
For more information, please contact:
Gayle Telford
Revolution Sports + Entertainment
E: gayle@revolutionsports.co.uk T: +44 (0)207 592 1207
Royal Windsor Horse Show
The Show will take place from 11-15 May 2016. Over 50,000 visitors are expected to attend the 74th year of Royal Windsor Horse Show which offers its audience astounding displays in the main Castle Arena, such as the DAKS Pony Club Mounted Games and The Shetland Pony Grand National. As well as the equestrian competitions and activities, there are over 220 shops in the Shopping Village, with a wide range of goods for sale, from jewellery and fashion, to food and drink. Her Majesty The Queen has attended every year since the Show started in 1943 and it is the only time of the year that the private grounds of Windsor Castle are open to the public. Royal Windsor Horse Show is organised by Windsor Equestrian Promotions Ltd, a part of HPower Group, also organisers of Olympia, The London International Horse Show www.hpower.co.uk.
The Queen’s 90th Birthday Celebration
Due to The Queen’s 90th Birthday Celebration taking place in the evenings following the Horse Show, there will be no evening performances at Royal Windsor Horse Show this year. These will return for 2017. The Horse Show will be ending at about 6pm each day. Royal Windsor Horse Show tickets do not include access to The Queen’s Birthday Celebration and there will be nowhere to watch the performance without The Celebration ticket.